Speed cooking oven

ABSTRACT

A speed cooking oven is disclosed comprising a cooking cavity, thermal heating source, air movement and directing means, air delivery means, and a vent assembly. Hot gas is circulated to and from the oven cavity via air delivery means such that turbulently mixed glancing, conflicting and colliding gas flow patterns mix at and about the surfaces of the food product. The turbulently mixed gas flows are spatially averaged over the surface area of the food product producing high heat transfer, thereby optimizing speed cooking of the food product.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 60/394,216, filed Jul. 5, 2002, entitled RAPIDCOOKING OVEN”. This provisional application is incorporated herein as iffully set forth.

BACKGROUND

This invention pertains to the art of cooking appliances and, moreparticularly, to an oven for cooking a food product by air alone; or acombination of air and microwave energy. The invention has particularapplication to high speed cooking of food products at very high qualitystandards.

Restaurants and commercial cooking establishments have a need for fastercooked food in order to more efficiently run and maintain theircommercial businesses. The ability to more rapidly cook food, andthereby more quickly serve food and move customers through a restauranthas great value during peak times when table space may limited due tohigh customer traffic. Therefore, speed cooking ovens are becoming morewidely known and utilized by those skilled in the art of commercialcooking. There exist several types of commercial speed cooking ovens onthe market today. These commercial cooking ovens utilize varioustechniques to accomplish speed cooking and have been and are referred toherein as “hybrid” ovens, and are generally defined as ovens that employa combination of microwave energy and at least one other thermal source(convection, radiant energy, and/or steam) to increase cooking speedover a conventional oven, while at the same time maintaining a qualityof cooking reasonably similar to a conventional cooking oven. As usedherein the terms “hybrid” and “combination” have the same meaning unlessotherwise specified and the terms “conventional cooking oven”“conventional cooking” and “conventional means”, have the same meaningand refer to cooking at the quality level and at the speed that iscurrently widely utilized. By way of example, the “conventional cookingtime” for a brand name of Grand Cinnamon rolls, according to thepackage, is approximately 28-30 minutes (e.g. conventional cookingtime).

Just as speed cooking will become the standard for commercial cooking,speed cooking also has application in residential cooking, and willbecome the standard for residential use also. The ability to quicklycook food, and the ability to cook a variety of food products togetherwithout flavor or odor transfer from one food product to the next,within the same cooking operation, is desirable and of high interest toresidential as well as commercial users.

There have been relatively few dramatic changes in the cooking art overthe years, as man has moved from open flame cooking at the campfire togas fired and electric resistance heating elements for cooking; andlater the introduction of the microwave oven totally revolutionized thefood industry as new food products were developed, new methods of fooddistribution developed and new and different opportunities opened up forresidential and commercial establishments as re-thermalization of foodproducts, very quickly, became possible. It is not necessary to recountthe dynamic impact the introduction of the microwave has had on dailylife, and also the many industries that were created because of theintroduction of affordable microwave re-heating devices.

High quality speed cooking will become the next standard as people willwant the ability to cook very quickly, but also will want a high qualityfood product. It is always therefore very important that speed cookingproduces a finished food product that is at least as good asconventionally cooked food products, and in some cases as high asgourmet standards. For example, a frozen pizza can be cooked in just 3minutes or less in a speed cooking oven as compared to the conventionalcooking time of approximately 25-30 minutes in a conventional oven. Or,cinnamon rolls cooked from raw dough can be cooked in a speed cookingoven in 2-3 minutes instead of the conventional 28-30 minutes. Each foodproduct can be cooked at these speeds and maintain the taste appearanceand overall quality of a conventionally cooked food product. Animportant aspect of proper speed cooking is that the food productproduced in a speed cook oven (in 1/7^(th) to 1/10^(th) the time in aconventional oven) is at or above the taste, appearance, quality andperformance levels of the same food product cooked by conventionalmeans. As this new and exciting technology is introduced into the marketand becomes commercially and residentially available, the entire foodindustry will be re-energized and re-organized around new and differentmethods of food production, packaging, transportation, delivery,preparation and cooking of food products.

One reason the average family takes less time today to be together formeals is because the time required to prepare a complete meal, includingthe cooking time, is more time than most people are willing to invest.With quality speed cooking, cooking will become “just in time” or “ondemand” as people will be able to cook foods 5 to 10 times faster thanconventional cooking, and at quality levels equal to or higher thanconventional cooking. The ability to custom cook, on demand, willrevolutionize cooking, and food preparation. With this invention it ispossible to short order cook exactly the food each person desires.Instead of “meatloaf tonight” it will be possible for one person to havesteak, another chicken and another pork chops, because these food itemscan be cooked, from raw, together, in this speed cooking oven in afraction of the time of conventional cooking. Or, for example picture anafternoon dinner party where fresh fish is laid out on a bed of ice. Asguests approach the fresh fish selection, each can pick out a particularfilet and watch as each filet is cooked perfectly in just a minute ortwo. Additionally, the person cooking the food will have the ability tocontrol how well done the fish is cooked, the degree of browning on theoutside (both top and bottom) and the inside temperature of the fish. Ifone person desires a salmon filet lightly done, this may take 1 minutewhile the next person may desire a well done filet which may, forexample, only take an additional 20 seconds.

In addition to the speed advantage, this invention produces very highquality food products that are cooked perfectly—cooked the way the foodproduct should be cooked instead of cooking using the conventionalmethod. Historically, conventional cooking ovens heat to a predeterminedtemperature before the food product is inserted into the oven. Once thefood product is inserted into the oven and over a period of time, theheat that has built up within the oven to a pre-heat temperature slowlyconducts through the entire food product until there is overall heatingof the interior of the food. This process is inefficient, but peoplehave nevertheless developed the skill level necessary to overcome theinefficiencies of the method. With this invention food is cookedperfectly with less waste from boil off, cook off or other loss of foodproduct due to the cooking process. As such, it will be possible todevelop food products with fewer or less initial ingredients and stillobtain the same final finished cooked food product. This inventiontherefore also relates to methods of food production wherein feweringredients are needed in order to attain the same final cooked product.Cooking with this new and novel method will allow food companies toreduce the quantity of the initial ingredients utilized for foodpreparation, but still maintain the final end product after the cookingprocess. Because this cooking process requires less initial startingingredients (weight and volume) less packaging material is thereforerequired. Smaller package size leads to more space on the groceryshelves and in refrigeration coolers. Shipping costs, packaging costs,shelf space in grocery stores and many other areas of the foodproduction system and delivery chain will be impacted as the world offood preparation, storage, transportation, delivery, preparation andsale moves from conventional cooking to speed cooking. In addition tothe previously mentioned benefits, the ability to cook to gourmetstandards with this invention will spawn an entire industry whereingourmet signature chefs will be able to develop, brand and market theirsignature products for people to take home and enjoy without the cost ortime expense of dining at a Five Star Restaurant. The speed cooking ovendescribed herein will also be capable of internet connectivity.Information such as recipes, cook settings, special cooking instructionsfor gourmet food products can all be downloaded from the internet andimported directly into the cooking oven. Additionally, diagnostic toolswill enable service providers to better predict future componentbreakdowns and also predict regular maintenance requirements, as remotemonitoring of the oven will be possible.

Today there are a number of combination ovens sold for commercial usethat cook in the range of two to three times faster than conventional.These ovens typically have an oven cavity roof or back wall launch ofthe microwave energy into the cooking cavity, with a simple convectionflow of air that creates a gentle air flow pattern within the oven.

Fast cooking ovens in the 2 to 3 times speed range have also beendeveloped. Compared to the higher speed hot air impingement flow speedcooking ovens, the more traditional microwave convection oven is arelatively simple rapid cook oven capable of cooking speeds of up to 3times faster than conventional. These ovens utilize a convection blowermotor and blower wheel mounted on the back wall (or side wall) with theoven air being drawn directly into the inlet and discharged from theblower wheel perimeter. A baffle plate isolates the blower dischargefrom the inlet and creates an outward flow of air along the oven cavityside, roof and floor walls, with the air flow turning back over the foodand returning to the blower inlet. The baffle plate looks like a falseback wall with gaps around the edges for air discharge and an opening inthe center for air return and microwave energy in these ovens has beenintroduced from top, bottom, or the side walls. In general, thesedesigns have a number of limitations and drawbacks. The first limitationis that the microwave launch system cannot equally illuminate multipleracks or pans of food. As a result, the efficiency of the microwaveenergy must be purposely reduced in order to avoid hot spots and poorcooking quality. Second, in a top (roof) launch or bottom (floor) launchmicrowave system, the cooking pans or other cooking vessels containingthe food are situated directly above (in a bottom launch system) ordirectly below (in a top launch system) the microwave launch systemwhich obscures the microwave energy from the pans further away from themicrowave illumination source. To compensate for the non-uniformillumination of the microwaves within the oven cavity, the design of theoven microwave system is purposely limited in order to achieveuniformity. As a result, most traditional microwave convection ovens areactually single rack position rapid cook ovens. Many of these top orbottom launch systems require either a mode stirrer (a mechanical deviceto stir the microwave “e field”) or a turntable that rotates a platteror plate upon which the food rests (top launch system), or in some casesboth a mode stirrer and a rotating tray is utilized. In addition to themicrowave energy field non-uniformity, the convection air flow also hasnon-uniform behavior which results in lower air flow rates in the ovenlimiting the convection heat transfer rate, thereby limiting the cookingspeed of the oven.

Generally, these oven designs direct the oven air flow down the sidewalls until the air flow reaches the oven cavity floor, then the airturns towards the back wall, flowing over the food product beforereturning back to the blower inlet and all the air returns to the blowerinlet opening (usually located in the center of the back or side wall).The center pan often has a distinctive “V” cooking pattern near theblower inlet and this creates flow non-uniformity from the center rackposition to the top/bottom positions. Balancing the air flow overseveral pans or cooking vessels is difficult as the air is drawn to thecenter of the back wall. As discussed herein, imparting high air flowsto the oven in order to achieve high cook speeds results in non-uniformcooking. Usually, the discharge from a baffle plate is adjusted with airflow vanes or flow restrictions in order to achieve a more uniform flowstate. The effectiveness of this approach is limited, and in general theoven air flow rates are maintained at modest rates.

In addition to the drawbacks described above relative to cooking speeds,these oven designs do not manage or handle air borne grease entrained bythe convection air and by health code, these ovens must be operatedunder a hood when cooking meats or other grease laden foods. Informationrelevant to attempts to address these problems can be found in U.S. Pat.No. 4,337,384; U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,889; U.S. Pat. No. 5,166,487 and EP0429822AJ. They have some speed advantage, but are not fast enough toradically change the cooking operation in a restaurant, commercialestablishment or the home kitchen.

It has been found that, in order to create a break-through in thecurrent cooking environment, cooking speeds greater than 5 timesconventional cooking speeds must be achieved. A number of developmentshave taken place to create high speed commercial cooking ovens in the3-10 times faster than conventional range, but fundamental drawbacksexist in these high speed commercial ovens and approaches. These ovenscook at high speed but some do not provide a quality finished foodproduct. These ovens tend to be complex, unreliable and expensive tomanufacture. As such, the finished sales price is high, thereby limitingthe demand for, and commercial success of the ovens. Due to the state ofthe art of these high speed commercial cooking machines, the ovencavities tend to be small, they create smoke and odor, and thereforerequire expensive ventilation or catalytic clean-up. They are generallydifficult to maintain, generally employ the use of a complex userinterface with multiple control variables, and generally require largepower supplies. They also tend to be less reliable due to the use ofspecialized components.

There have been different approaches to high speed cooking utilized inthe past. One is impingement style air flow coupled with microwave, andanother is convection style gas flow with microwave. Several high speedcooking ovens featuring impingement style convection flow fields coupledwith microwave energy have been developed and impingement style heattransfer is not new in the art. As an example, impingement style heattransfer has been described in the General Electric Heat Transfer DataBook 1981 as “One method of producing relatively large forced convectionheat transfer coefficients on a surface by gas (or other gases) is theuse of a multiplicity of jets impinging upon the surface. As the gas jetapproaches close to the surface it turns by an angle of 90 degrees, andthereby becomes what is called a “wall jet” FIG. 1 (after the 90 degreeturn). This type of impinging heat transfer has been studied extensivelywith predictive heat transfer relationships and the use of thisimpingement style cooking has historically been employed.

Some of the current oven designs feature opposed primary energy flowswith impingement convection heat transfer being directed onto the uppersurface of the food product (straight down at 90 degrees to the foodproduct) and microwave energy launched from the floor of the oven cavityinto the bottom of the food product. To provide bottom side convectionheat transfer, the impingement air flow is pulled around the sides ofthe food product and across the bottom of the food via a low pressuregas return duct located directly below the food and has been describedas a “shroud effect”. The flow beneath the food is accomplished using aceramic platter with stand offs that have the dual purpose of supportingthe food product and directing air flow along the bottom side of thefood (as the standoffs are used to elevate the food thereby creating theair flow passage ways) with the air flow exiting downward via a seriesof apertures in the ceramic platter. The microwave energy is launchedfrom below the food product and enters the food after passing throughthe ceramic platter, such ceramic platter is microwave transparent toallow the passage of the microwave energy through the platter and intothe food product. While this approach produces high cooking speeds (5-10times faster than conventional oven) it has several limitations as theovens have non-uniform energy fluxes (convection and microwave) betweenthe top and bottom of the food product thereby requiring complex controlof the microwave and convection heating systems (sub-systems) to achievespeed cooking. In general, both the microwave energy and the convectionenergy flows are adjusted several times during the cooking cycle. Thedevices used to accomplish this adjustment are intensive blower motorsand blower motor speed controllers, microwave power modulation, and acomplex oven controller/user interface (needed to input multiple powerand time settings for a given recipe). These devices are expensive anddramatically add to the complexity and cost of the final product.Additionally, these sub-systems tend to be unreliable, causing highservice callouts. To achieve high speed the ovens require a relativelycomplex and expensive variable speed convection blower motor speedcontrol with dynamically braking blower motor speed controllers andsophisticated electronic oven controls. The air blower must havevariable speed capability in order to provide lower convective heattransfer rates when cooking more delicate food products such as cakesand other pastries. These ovens also have a lack of independent top sideand bottom side convection (browning) heating because top impingementflow must wrap around the food product and flow under the food productin order to accomplish bottom side heating/browning. This requires theuse of the previously mentioned expensive, fragile, and difficult toclean microwave transparent ceramic platter, which allows for thepassage of microwaves. The ceramic platter must be configured with airflow channels in order to accomplish bottom side browning. The ceramicplatter is expensive to manufacture, chips easily (creating health,performance and reliability problems) and requires regular cleaning,maintenance, and replacement. Because the ceramic platter is a necessarycomponent, if a spare is not kept on hand, the oven is renderedinoperable in the event a platter is broken. Supply chains, stocks ofinventory and additional money must be set aside in order to assure aconstant supply of these ceramic platters. Indeed, ovens utilizing theseceramic platters have met with difficulty when introduced intocommercial establishments with the prospective owners of these ovensconstantly battling reliability problems and the need to re-supply theircommercial establishments with ceramic platters. As an example of oneproblem, a chipped ceramic platter absorbs moisture, grease, oils andother by-products of the cooking process. As water, for example isabsorbed within these platters, microwave performance decreases becausethe microwave energy interacts or couples with the water molecules (theprinciple of a microwave oven is the excitation of the oxygen-hydrogenbond within the water molecule) thereby reducing the microwave energyavailable for cooking. At some point, the overall oven heat willeventually, at least somewhat, dry a water soaked ceramic platter byboiling off the trapped water within the platter, but until this occurs,varying degrees of cooking performance may be experienced due to thevarying moisture content within the platter. As more water is evaporatedfrom the platter, more microwave energy is then available to couple withthe food product instead of the water trapped within the platter. A foodproduct cooked upon a water soaked platter will take longer to cook (orat least that portion of the cooking attributable to microwave energy)than the same food product cooked upon a dry platter. For this reason, aspeed cooking oven requiring the use of a ceramic platter with aperturesto both direct air flow and exhaust air flow is undesirable, but isnevertheless necessary as the described oven utilizes the “shroud” or“wrap” effect in order to fully and somewhat properly cook the foodproduct; and the shroud effect is only created by the wrapping of theair around the food product via use of the ceramic platter. Also, withthe requirement of very rapid air circulation through the oven (highvelocity impingement), these ovens tend to be noisy. Cycling of theseovens from low velocity to high velocity generally produces a whirringnoise not dissimilar to the sound of a jet engine winding up.

In these ovens, a uniform vertical jet flow field, over a range of flowrates, is needed for cooking over the entire cooking rack area. A commonresult of this requirement is that there is a lack of uniformity; so itis necessary to restrict or reduce the cooking zone to that area thatexperiences appropriate cooking, relative to the platter. This reducesthe cooking capacity for a given oven cavity size because less of theplatter can be cooked upon.

Especially lacking in these ovens is the ability to cook in the cornersections of the oven. With other technologies, means to overcome thisproblem are complex and have at least partially been solved by rotationof the food product under air jets with the use of a turntable. Usingrotation (turntable) to compensate for jet non-uniformity also has theeffect of reducing the useful cooking area of the appliance by at leastapproximately 25%. The circular turntable within either a square orrectangular oven cavity bottom does not take advantage of the cookingarea located within the corners of the oven. In addition to thepreviously mentioned drawbacks of the ceramic platter, the platterfurther complicates the ability to achieve uniform flow conditionsbecause the vertical jet air flow pattern couples to the ceramic platterwhich is being used to channel flow under the food. Additionally, thenon-uniformity is a function of the shape and size of any cooking vesselused (e.g. pan, cookie sheet) because the air flow must wrap around thecooking vessel. In addition to the problems associated with these otheroven cavity bottoms, the design and construction of the oven cavity topis complex given the need to add or modify the oven cavity roof forimpingement nozzle plates/supply ducts. Also, modification of the ovencavity bottom is required for microwave launching, modification of thebottom and/or back wall is required for return gas ducts, andmodification of the oven cavity top is required for the impingementstyle gas nozzles. Taken together, these modifications result in a smallcook chamber section volume as compared to the entire oven cavityvolume.

Another disadvantage in the previously described oven is that it isdifficult to provide a microwave seal to the cavity floor (microwavelaunches through the oven floor through a circular waveguide) to preventgrease/liquid contamination of the wave guides. This is importantbecause grease, water vapor or other particulate contamination of themicrowave waveguide causes premature failure of the magnetron (tube)used to generate the microwave energy or “e-field” within the ovencavity. In these ovens, an opening in the oven cavity floor bottomallows the microwave launcher to extend up and through the oven cavityfloor but the launcher must be sealed with a material that allows thepassage of microwave energy, without any leakage of the seal becauseleakage of the seal then allows grease, food products and otherby-products of the cooking process to contaminate the microwavelaunching system, thereby reducing the life of the microwave system,causing again, as described above, tube failure and service callouts.

Another disadvantage of the high speed ovens described above is thatthey require grease control because of the high velocity of theimpinging air jets. This high velocity air impingement flow tends toentrain grease, both particles and vapor, into the convection gas, whichspeedly soils the oven cavity surfaces. One method of dealing with thisgrease load has been the use of a large catalyst to control the airbornegrease. Drawbacks of the catalyst include its high cost and the catalysttends to cause a pressure drop in the impingement air flow, therebyreducing operating efficiencies. The pressure drop is compensated by theuse of a larger blower, thereby increasing component cost and loweringoperating efficiencies and raising energy costs. The catalysts must bereplaced periodically, adding both a service cost and an equipment costto the oven.

Other technologies use a different impingement approach where verticalair jets are generated from the oven roof and floor simultaneously. Theoven cavity bottom or floor impingement jets provide for bottom sidecooking/browning while the oven cavity roof jets provide top sidecooking and browning. In this device, the microwaves are launched fromabove the food product. Like the high velocity gas impingement air flowtechnology described above, this approach has several drawbacks.

First, the floor located gas nozzle plate and its supply duct are verydifficult to maintain given their susceptibility to food spoils, spillsand grease accumulation. To utilize the entire (or nearly) cooking area(rack), the top and bottom air jets must be very uniform in velocity ora non-uniform cooking and browning of the food product will result wherethe impingement jets produce circular brown spots on the food productsurface. This polka dot browning effect is, of course generally notacceptable. Additionally, the requirement for very uniform gas flow tothe food product adds complexity to the air flow system.

Second, uniform air jet fields are difficult to achieve at flows otherthan the design flow rates. When lower air flow rates (velocities) areneeded, such as with pastries, it is difficult to attain proper air flowrates less than the design flow rate specified for higher air flows.Such reduced flows will minimize the effective cooking area within theoven cavity to a portion of the cavity where a reasonable flow fieldexits in order to cook a food product to an acceptable quality level.Alternatively, to compensate for the requirement of a less aggressiveair flow, the convection flows must be greatly reduced, which willresult in longer cook times (defeating the desire for a speed cookingoven).

Third, the general oven construction is complex, as the supply duct tothe roof air plate must also act as a launch box for the microwaves.This requires that the roof jet plate be transparent to microwaves(e.g., ceramic plate with jet holes) so that the microwaves can belaunched through the plate. Additionally, the floor ducts may becomecomplex parts in the event they are designed to be removed for cleaningand/or servicing.

Fourth, having supply ducts on the floor and roof of the oven cavitygreatly reduces the useful volume (cook section) of the oven because asmuch as half of the height of the oven cavity is occupied by these airchannels. Other techniques have been used in an attempt to overcomethese issues, but these techniques generally require more complexitysuch as oscillating nozzles, rotating food support, special foodcontainers, and a smaller cook section and the work arounds tend to addcomplexity, cost and create other undesirable issues.

Finally, the previous approaches described for speed cooking ovens aresuited for single rack cooking or single level cooking. Impingementstyle air flow is ineffective with two or more rack positions becauseone rack with food product will block air flow to the second or thirdrack.

During normal conventional cooking, metal pans, metal pots and metalsheet pans (and other metal products) are generally used, bothcommercially and residentially and the use of metal pans is widespread.It will be difficult for speed cooking ovens to become popular withineither the commercial foodservice marketplace or within the residentialmarket unless quality speed cooking utilizing metal pans can beaccomplished.

Generally, speed cooking is slowed by the use of metal pans as microwaveenergy cannot penetrate and is deflected (re-distributed) within theoven cavity by the pans. Additionally, the metal pans completely blockmicrowave energy when the energy is directed from below the pan on asingle rack oven or in a top launch oven, the microwave energy isblocked from the lower pan by the top pan. It is therefore desirablethat a speed cooking oven is capable of speed cooking, at high qualitylevels utilizing metal pans.

Another problem generally encountered is that browning of the lowersurface of the food product is difficult to control because the methodgenerally utilized for bottom side browning is conduction through ametal pan (pan is heated by radiant or microwave energy and then thethermal is transferred to the food product by direct contact with thefood product) and this heating produces a griddle effect, therebybrowning the bottom side of the food product. This method is difficultto control and generally produces an over brown or burned bottom surfaceof the food product. The ability to properly brown the bottom side of afood product, within a metal pan, is therefore important.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide amethod and apparatus for speed-cooking within a single-rack oven with animproved gas flow design capable of cooking most food products 5 to 10times faster than conventional cooking.

It is another object of the present invention to provide such a speedcooking oven which utilizes a gas flow pattern that averages out themaximum and the minimum gas flow variation for a given point in the ovencook section resulting in a gas flow that is averaged spatially over thefood product surface.

It is also an object to provide such a speed-cooking oven that producesuniform low flow conditions required for high quality baking.

A further object is to provide such a speed-cooking oven with acontinuous floor that is not interrupted by gas ducts or microwavelaunching and/or other systems and is easy for the user to clean andmaintain.

Another object is to provide a means to produce and direct various gasflow patterns in the oven that either reduce or enhance the convectionheat transfer coefficient to the product.

It is another object to provide a relatively constant flow through theoven which eliminates the need for varying the air flow therebyimproving grease extraction by maintaining higher flow rates through-outthe cooking cycle regardless of the required heat transfer to theproduct.

Another object is to provide such an oven with a simplified ovenconstruction, eliminating the need for variable speed impingement airblowers, dynamically braking blower motor speed controllers andassociated electronics.

Still another object is to provide a speed cooking oven that is capableof high quality speed cooking within metal pans, pots, sheet pans andother metal cooking devices found in residential and commercialkitchens.

Another object is to provide a speed cooking oven that is capable ofperforming bottom side browning of the food product utilizing gas flowto the bottom surface of the food product without the use of floormounted air plates.

Another object is to provide such a speed-cooking oven that increasesthe useful oven cook section height by eliminating ducts and/or jetplates from the floor of the oven.

Another object is to provide such an oven with a gas flow field wheregrease entrainment is reduced by eliminating the vertical impingementstyle flow that tends to throw or kick grease into the gas stream fromboth the cooking pan and the food product, while achieving sufficientlyhigh heat transfer rates.

Another object is to provide such an oven that matches the generalmicrowave and convection heat transfer energy patterns, such thatuniform cooking conditions can be achieved on the top side and bottomside of the food product.

Another object is to provide such an oven with gas deflection means thatallows flexibility of gas diversion throughout the speed cooking oven.

It is a further object to provide such an oven for speed cooking onmultiple racks.

It is a further object to provide such an oven which is more costeffective to manufacture and easier to clean and maintain.

Yet another object is to provide such an oven which is more reliable dueto improvements and simplifications in component sub-systems.

Other objectives, features and advantages will be apparent in thewritten description which follows.

SUMMARY

It has now been found that the above objects are obtained in a speedcooking oven provided with a unique combination of high gas flow ratesthat are averaged at the food product surface, and a means for changingthe convection heat transfer rate to the food product by controlling theoven gas flow patterns. Additionally, side wall mounted microwavesystems may be utilized. As used herein, the term “gas” includes, but isnot limited to air, nitrogen and other fluid mixtures that may beutilized within the cooking art. The exemplary embodiment of the speedcook oven has a simple construction featuring two small fixed blowersused to re-circulate hot gas within the oven cavity. Convection gas issupplied to the oven cook cavity by slotted or perforated cavity airdistribution plates that direct gas flow to the top, sides, and bottomof the food product. The gas flow angle to the product is greater thanapproximately zero degrees from horizontal (cavity floor as horizontalreference) and less than ninety degrees from the horizontal floorsurface. Gas flows from the top left side of the oven conflict andcollide with gas flows from the top right of the oven upon the surfaceof the food product. This turbulent mixing of the left and right gasflows at the surface of the food product produces a spatially averagedgas flow that effects rapid cooking of a food product. While top gasflows glance off of each other, conflicting, colliding and mixing uponthe top surface of the food product, gas flow is directed towards thebottom of the food product from the lower left and lower right portionsof the oven cavity. This gas also mixes at the bottom surface of thefood product, conflicting and colliding thereby causing a spatialaveraging of the gas flow at the food product surface, effecting rapidcooking of the food product. As used herein, the term “rapid cooking”and “speed cooking” have the same meaning and refer to cooking at ⅕^(th)to 1/10^(th) the time of conventional cooking. Once the gas hascirculated around the food product, it is drawn to the roof (top) of theoven cavity for convection heating, grease control, odor control andeventual movement to the inlet side of the convection blowers and returnto the oven cavity. The oven therefore utilizes a closed system whereinthe spent air is re-circulated through the oven many times during acooking operation.

A first conventional microwave waveguide with slotted antenna ispositioned along the left side wall, and a second conventional microwavewaveguide with slotted antenna is positioned along the right side wallof the oven cavity. The microwave feeds (antenna) are centered near thecooking rack level (below the upper gas supply duct), such that nearlyequal amounts of electromagnetic energy is directed towards the top andbottom surfaces of the food product. Standard 2.45 GHz microwaveproducing magnetrons (tubes) are used, producing a maximum power levelfor the oven of approximately 2000 watts (delivered to the food) orapproximately 1000 watts per microwave magnetron.

After the gas passes over the food product and through the cavity, itflows up to the oven roof where it exits the oven cavity. As the gasflow exits the oven cook cavity it passes over a thermal device (eitheran electric resistance, infrared, or natural gas fired convection gasheater, or other means of heating which may be direct or indirectheating). When electric heating elements are used, the preference is asheath type heater configured into a compact coil shape. Depending uponthe oven size and desired speed of cook (i.e., gas flow rate through theoven) the heater will deliver approximately 2500-4000 watts of energy tothe gas. The thermal delivery to the gas flow is variable depending uponthe particular characteristics of the particular speed cooking ovenapplication and the exemplary oven described operates at fromapproximately 2500-4000 watts. The oven cavity roof mount gas heaterlocation is ideal for a gas fired gas heater relative to ease ofinstallation, serviceability, and the ability to incinerate greaseparticles that come in contact with the very hot product of combustion.Of course, the hot products of combustion are mixed with the oven gasreturning to the blower. A number of gas combustor types are suitablefor this application including a surface type burner and a typicallyburner input rate would, for example, be in the 14,000 Btu/hr range, buta larger or smaller burner may be utilized.

To prevent excessive grease build-up in the oven, a means to removegrease for the convection gas is incorporated into the oven. Immediatelyafter the air passes over the gas or electric heater, but before the gasenters the blower inlet, it passes through a grease control device. Thisdevice mechanically separates the grease particles greater than 3.0microns from the gas flow. The roof location makes it ease to installand service such a device.

The gas flow is directed from the blowers and into ducts that delivergas from the left and the right sides of the oven cavity. The gas flowenters the oven cavity from the left side and from the right side and isdirected over the top and bottom surfaces of the food product in amanner wherein the gas flow from the left side conflicts, collides andturbulently mixes with the gas flow from the right side of the oven atthe top surface and at the bottom surface of the food product. Thisturbulent mixing of the gas flow patterns at the food product surfaceproduces high heat transfer, thereby producing rapid browning and rapidcooking of the food product.

Additional objects, features and advantages of the present inventionwill become readily apparent from the following detailed description ofthe exemplary embodiment thereof, when taken in conjunction with thedrawings wherein like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts inthe several views.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are setforth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well asa preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, willbest be understood by reference to the following detailed description ofan illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of Impingement style heat transfer

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of a single rack oven according to thepresent invention

FIG. 3 is an isometric view of the left side and left front of oven

FIG. 4 is a top view of oven

FIG. 5 is a front isometric view of oven

FIG. 6 is a front view of gas flow

FIG. 7 is an isometric view of the right side and right front of oven

FIG. 8 is a front elevation view of microwave energy distribution

FIG. 9 are views of grease extractor

FIG. 10 is a front view of left side oven wall illustrating microwaveantenna.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT

The speed cook oven of the exemplary embodiment is shown as a standalone commercial cooking appliance, but it is obvious to those skilledin the cooking art that this stand alone speed cooking appliance mayexist in many other commercial and residential embodiments (e.g.counter-top oven, wall-oven, single rack oven, multi-rack oven) becausethe speed cook oven is scalable up or scalable down. As used herein, theterm scalable has the meaning that additional larger or smallerembodiments can be developed for commercial and residentialapplications. Of course each embodiment or version may have differentsize characteristics, and require different voltages of electricity—ascommercial power supplies are generally different than residential powersupplies. This speed cook oven is therefore not limited to commercialuses only, and is equally applicable for residential (home) use. Withinitial reference to FIGS. 2-6, a speed cook appliance 1 isschematically shown in the form of a stand alone commercial counter topcooking appliance. As used herein, the term “commercial” includes, butis not limited to, the commercial food service industry, restaurants,fast food establishments, speed service restaurants, convenience stores(to list a few) and other mass feeding establishments and the term“residential” refers, generally speaking, to residential applications(home use), although the term is not limited to residences only, butrefers to non-commercial applications for the speed cooking oven.

Appliance 1 includes an oven cavity 2 generally defined by, FIG. 2, atop wall 3, a bottom wall 4, left side wall 5 a right side wall 6, andFIG. 4, a back wall 94 and a front wall 95. Oven cavity 2 also hasassociated therewith an access opening 7, FIG. 4, through which fooditems 10 may be placed within oven cavity 2 upon cooking rack 8 a, FIG.2. Although the exemplary embodiment is shown as a countertop oven withone rack 8 a, supported by side walls 5 and 6, it is obvious to oneskilled in the art that the oven may be made with multiple racks andmultiple gas delivery systems, and is not limited to a single rackdesign. As used herein, the term “gas” refers to any fluid mixture,including air and nitrogen that may be used in cooking processes andapplicant intends to encompass within the language any structurepresently existing or developed in the future that performs the samefunction. Although the cooking rack 8 a is shown as supported by sidewalls 5 and 6, it is obvious to one skilled in the cooking art that rack8 a may be a free-standing cooking rack not supported by the side walls.Cooking appliance 1 has a hinged door 9, FIG. 4, pivotally attached tothe oven front for closing the cooking section opening 7 during cookingoperation. Hinged door 9 may be swung between an open position whereinthe door allows access to oven cavity 2 and a closed position whereinthe door covers the opening into oven cavity 2. Although illustrated asa hinged door pivotally attached at the left side of the front of theoven, the door may be hinged on the right side, bottom side or top side.

The speed cooking oven is comprised of two independent gas transfersystems, described herein as a left gas transfer system and a right gastransfer system, wherein left gas transfer system delivers gas to andfrom the left side of the oven cavity 2, and right gas transfer systemdelivers gas to and from the right side of the oven cavity 2. Ovencavity 2 also has associated therewith vent tube 71, FIG. 4, whichallows for the passage of vent gas from oven cavity 2 to atmosphere.Affixed within vent tube 71 is odor filter 72 which provides for theremoval of odors caused by the cooking process. Odor filter 72 may bemade to be removable for cleaning or replacement. Various materials maybe utilized to accomplish odor removal and varying efficiencies of saidmaterials may also be employed. For example, in some instances it may bedesirable for the odor filter to completely (as much as is possible)filter all odors while at other times it may be desirable to provide fora less efficient odor filter 72 in order to allow for the passage ofsome cooking odors. It has been found that during the cooking process,for example baking bread, the operator has an expectation of smellingbread cooking and it may not be desirable to completely filter allodors.

Referring to FIG. 4, gas is transferred to and from oven cavity 2 via aleft gas transfer system, which is comprised of a left gas transfersection 15 a, which extends from the front to back of oven top wall 3,along the left side of top wall 3. In fluid connection with left gastransfer section 15 a is top gas egress opening 12, which is open to,and in fluid connection with oven cavity 2 through top wall 3. Top gasegress opening 12 is substantially rectangular, although othergeometries may be employed, and is centrally located within oven topwall 3 and provides for the passage of gas from oven cavity 2 into leftgas transfer section 15 a, as gases are removed from oven cavity 2through top egress gas egress opening 12. Located within left gastransfer section 15 a is left grease extractor 13 a. As gas is drawnthrough top gas egress opening 12, the gas passes across left heatingmeans 14 a, prior to entry in and through left grease extractor 13 a.Heating means 14 a may include direct fired thermal energy, indirectfired thermal energy, propane, natural gas, electric resistance heatingelements, and other thermal means; and applicant intends to encompasswithin the language any structure presently existing or developed in thefuture that performs the same function. After the gas is drawn acrossheating means 14 a and through left grease extractor 13 a, it is thendrawn through left odor filter 40 a and into left gas transfer section15 a. Alternate locations for left odor filter 40 a can be utilizedwithin the gas flow path and the location of the left odor filteradjacent to left grease extractor 13 a is not required. In fluidconnection with, and located within left gas transfer section 15 a is aleft gas accelerator, illustrated as left blower wheel 16 a. Otherdevices may be utilized to accelerate the gas flow, such as acompressor, and applicant intends to encompass within the language anystructure presently existing or developed in the future that performsthe same function as 16 a, 90 a, 91 a and 16 b, 90 b and 91 b, to bediscussed further herein. Connected to left blower wheel 16 a is blowermotor shaft 90 a, which is direct drive with electric motor 91 a. Othermeans may be employed for coupling blower wheel 16 a to electric motor91 a, such as belt drive and the means is not limited to direct drive.Blower wheel 16 a takes gas from oven cavity 2 and delivers the gas viagas transfer section 17 a to the left top side of oven cavity 2. Topleft gas transfer section 17 a, FIG. 2, is in fluid connection with alower left gas transfer section 18 a via a left vertical gas transfersection 19 a. Left vertical gas transfer section 19 a is bounded by leftside wall 5 and a left microwave waveguide section 20 a. As can be seenin FIG. 2, as gas is pumped into top left gas transfer section 17 a, thegas is discharged through a top left discharge plate 23 a into ovencavity 2 via apertures 100 a and onto the left top and side portion offood product 10. Apertures 100 a may be slotted, regularly formed orirregularly formed apertures and are illustrated herein as nozzles 100 aand 29 a and applicant intends to encompass within the language anystructure presently existing or developed in the future that performsthe same function as 100 a, 29 a and 100 b and 29 b, discussed furtherherein. Gas that has not been discharged through top left gas dischargeplate 23 a flows to lower left gas transfer section 18 a via verticaltransfer section 19 a. Gas that is distributed to lower left gastransfer section 18 a may be re-heated, if desired, by a lower leftheating means 103 a, shown in FIG. 2, before said gas passes throughslotted or perforated lower left gas discharge plate 27 a via apertures29 a, for discharge onto the left bottom and left side portions of foodproduct 10 in oven cavity 2. Lower left heating means 103 a may bepresent in some embodiments and not present in others depending upon theparticular requirements for the speed cook oven. Apertures 100 a and 29a are sized for a low pressure drop, while providing and maintainingsufficient gas velocities in the range of approximately 2000 ft/minuteto approximately 6000 ft/minute to properly cook the food product asdescribed herein. In some instances, velocities below 2000 ft/minute andabove 6000 ft/minute may also be utilized. As shown in FIG. 6, apertures100 a are sized such that the majority of the gas is supplied from thetop left gas discharge plate 23 a. The resulting imbalance of gas flowsbetween the top left gas discharge plate 23 a and lower left gasdischarge plate 27 a is desirable because the top flows mustaggressively remove moisture produced and escaping from the top and topside surface of the food product 10. The imbalance also serves to heat,brown and/or heat and brown the food product 10.

Referring again FIG. 4, gas is also transferred to and from oven cavity2 via a right gas transfer system, which is comprised of a right gastransfer section 15 b, which extends from the front to back of oven topwall 3, along the right side of top wall 3. In fluid connection withright gas transfer section 15 b is top gas egress opening 12, which isopen to, and in fluid connection with oven cavity 2 through top wall 3.Top gas egress opening 12 is substantially rectangular, although othergeometries may be employed, and is centrally located within oven topwall 3 and provides for the passage of gas from oven cavity 2 into rightgas transfer section 15 b, as gases are removed from oven cavity 2through top egress gas egress opening 12. Located within right gastransfer section 15 b is right grease extractor 13 b. As gas is drawnthrough top gas egress opening 12, the gas passes across heating means14 b, prior to entry in and through right grease extractor 13 b. Afterthe gas is drawn across heating means 14 b and through right greaseextractor 13 b, it is then drawn through right odor filter 40 b and intoright gas transfer section 15 b. Alternate locations for right odorfilters 40 a, 40 b can be utilized within the gas flow path and thelocation of the right odor filter adjacent to right grease extractor 13b is not required. In fluid connection with, and located within rightgas transfer section 15 b is a right gas accelerator, illustrated asright blower wheel 16 b. Connected to right blower wheel 16 b is blowermotor shaft 90 b, which is direct drive with electric motor 91 b. Othermeans may be employed for coupling blower wheel 16 b to electric motor91 b, such as belt drive and the means is not limited to direct drive.Blower wheel 16 b takes gas from oven cavity 2 and delivers the gas viagas transfer section 17 b to the right top side of oven cavity 2.Although illustrated as a conventional blower motor, blower motor shaftand blower wheel, other gas pumping means such as a compressor may beutilized to re-circulate gas to and from oven cavity 2 and the inventionis not limited to use of a blower motor and blower wheel combination.Top right gas transfer section 17 b is in fluid connection with a lowerright gas transfer section 18 b via a right vertical gas transfersection 19 b. Right vertical transfer section 19 b is bounded by rightside wall 6 and a right microwave waveguide section 20 b. As can be seenin FIG. 2, as gas is pumped into top right gas transfer section 17 b,the gas is discharged through a top right discharge plate 23 b into ovencavity 2 via apertures 100 b and onto the right top and side portion offood product 10. Apertures 100 b may be slotted, regularly formed orirregularly formed apertures and are illustrated herein as nozzles 100 band 29 b. Gas that has not been discharged through top right gasdischarge plate 23 b flows to lower right gas transfer section 18 b viavertical transfer section 19 b. Gas that is distributed to lower rightgas transfer section 18 b may be re-heated, if desired, by a lower rightheating means 103 b, shown in FIG. 2, before said gas passes throughslotted or perforated lower right gas discharge plate 27 b via apertures29 b, for discharge onto the right bottom and right side portions offood product 10 in oven cavity 2. Lower right heating means 103 b may bepresent in some embodiments and not present in others depending upon theparticular requirements for the speed cook oven. Apertures 100 b and 29b are sized for a low pressure drop, while providing and maintainingsufficient gas velocities in the range of approximately 2000 ft/minuteto approximately 6000 ft/minute but as discussed with the left side gasdelivery system, velocities below 2000 ft/minute and above 6000ft/minute may be utilized if desired to properly cook the food productas described herein. As shown in FIG. 6, apertures 100 b are sized suchthat the majority of the gas is supplied from the top right gasdischarge plate 23 b. The resulting imbalance of gas flows between thetop right gas discharge plate 23 b and lower right gas discharge plate27 b is desirable because the top flows must aggressively removemoisture produced and escaping from the top and top side surface of thefood product 10. The imbalance also serves to heat, brown and/or heatand brown the food product 10.

The left and right gas supply systems, although independently describedherein, are the same configuration and function to uniformly circulatehot gas flow across the top and top sides and bottom and bottom sides ofthe food product, and return the gas to the heating mechanism forre-delivery to the cooking cavity.

As described, the gas flow is delivered via four gas transfer sections17 a, 17 b, 18 a, 18 b which are located in the top and bottom cornersof oven cavity 2 as shown in FIG. 2. Gas flow transfer sections 17 a, 17b, 18 a and 18 b extend from the back wall 94 of oven cavity 2 to thefront wall 95 of oven cavity 2, although it is not required that the gasflow transfer sections extend the entire depth (front to back) of theoven cavity. Gas transfer section 17 a is located in the top left cornerof oven cavity 2 where top wall 3 intersects oven cavity side wall 5;gas transfer section 17 b in the top right corner where top wall 3intersects right side wall 6; gas transfer section 18 a in the lowerleft corner of the oven cavity where bottom wall 4 intersects left sidewall 5; and gas transfer section 18 b in the lower right corner wherebottom wall 4 intersects right side wall 6. Each of the gas transfersections are sized and configured to deliver the appropriate gas flowfor the particular oven utilized. For example, in a smaller oven, thegas delivery sections, indeed the entire oven, may be sized smaller inproportion to the smaller footprint of the particular requirements, anda larger oven will have proportionally larger gas delivery sections. Asseen in FIG. 6, the left side and the right side gas flows converge onthe food product 10 thereby creating an aggressive flow field on thefood product surface that strips away the moisture boundary layer. Thisturbulently mixed gas flow directed at the food product can best bedescribed as glancing, conflicting and colliding gas flow patterns thatspatially average the gas flow over the surface area of the food productproducing high heat transfer and moisture removal rates at the foodsurface, thereby optimizing speed cooking. The gas flow is directedtowards the top, the bottom and the sides of the food product from theleft and right sides of the oven cavity and the left and right side gasflows conflict, collide and glance off each other at the food productsurface before exiting the oven cavity through top gas egress opening.As used herein the term “mixing” refers to the glancing, conflicting andcolliding gas flow patterns that meet at and upon the top surface, thebottom surface and the left and right side surfaces of the food productand produce high heat transfer and speed cooking of the food product dueto spatial averaging of the gas flow heat transfer. As used herein, theterms “mix”, “mixing”, “turbulent mix” and “turbulent mixing”. The ovenof the present invention does not require smooth gas flow, laminar gasflow or air wrap gas flow. The mixing gas flows patterns are createdwithin the oven cavity and, when appropriately directed and deflected,produce a high quality cooked food product very quickly. Enhancing thehighly agitated, glancing, conflicting, and colliding gas flow of thepresent invention is the general upward flow path the gas will follow,as shown in FIGS. 6 a and 6 b, through top gas egress opening 12, as thegas exits the top of oven cavity 2. This upward gas flow draws also thegas from lower gas discharge sections 18 a and 18 b thereby scrubbingthe bottom of the food product, pot, pan or other cooking vessel, bypulling gas flow around the sides of said vessel, further enhancing theheat transfer, as well as drawing the gas that scrubs the upper surfaceup towards the oven cavity top wall.

Returning to FIG. 2, top gas discharge plates 23 a and 23 b arepositioned within oven cavity 2 such that the gas flow from top gastransfer section 17 a conflicts and collides with the gas flow from topgas transfer section 17 b upon the food product surface and strikes thefood product at an angle that is between zero degrees and 90 degrees asreferenced from the horizontal top wall (where zero degrees is parallelto the horizontal top wall) and lower gas discharge plates 27 a and 27 bare positioned within oven cavity 2 such that the gas flow from lowergas transfer section 18 a conflicts and collides with the gas flow fromlower gas transfer section 18 b upon the lower surface of the foodproduct at an angle that is between zero degrees and ninety degrees asreferenced from the horizontal bottom wall. Various cooking requirementsmay require that the angles of the gas discharge plates 23 a, 23 b, 27 aand 27 b be adjusted, either during manufacture, or adjustable withinthe unit after manufacture, in order for the chef or cook to change gasflow velocity angles (vectors) to effect different cooking profiles.

The number and placement of the apertures 100 a, 100 b, 29 a and 29 bwill vary according to the particular oven that is required. Asdescribed herein, this invention is “scalable” and as used herein theterm scalable has the meaning that the technology will provide for aplatform of products, not merely one particular size or one particularproduct. If, for example, a speed cooking baking oven were desired (asopposed to a general purpose speed cooking oven which cooks proteins,baked products, etc.) the apertures may be larger, but fewer in number.This would allow for a more gentle gas flow field across the foodproduct, and therefore more delicate baking of the food product. If abrowning oven were desired, the apertures may be more numerous andsmaller in diameter. Additionally, the operator may desire flexibilityof cooking and in this circumstance, gas discharge plates 23 a, 23 b, 27a and 27 b may be fabricated in a manner that allows for change-out ofthe plates. As used herein the term aperture refers to irregular slots,irregular holes or irregular nozzles, regularly formed slots, regularlyformed holes or regularly formed nozzles or a mixture of regularlyformed and irregularly formed slots, holes or nozzles. FIG. 2illustrates the use of three rows of apertures 100 a and 100 b on thetop side gas flow systems, gas delivery sections 17 a and 17 b, and tworows of apertures on the lower side gas flow systems 18 a and 18 balthough more rows and numbers of apertures or fewer rows and numbers ofapertures may be utilized for sections 17 a, 17 b, 18 a and 18 b.

The gas delivery system as illustrated in FIG. 6 produces aggressiveglancing, conflicting and conflicting gas flow patterns 30 a and 30 bwherein a gas flow is directed onto the top surface of the food product.An aggressive top glancing, conflicting and colliding gas flow pattern30 a also interacts with the left top portion and left top side portionof food product 10 and a similar right top glancing, conflicting andcolliding gas flow pattern 30 b interacts with the right top portion andtop right side portion of food product 10. As seen in FIG. 6 a, gas flowis also directed to the lower gas transfer sections 18 a and 18 b. Assuch, an aggressive glancing, conflicting and colliding gas flowpatterns 31 a and 31 b interact with the lower left and right portionsof the food product. This cooking profile creates high heat transfercapability by using the irregular surface of the food product, as wellas the interference of flow fields to minimize boundary layer growth. Asseen in FIG. 5, the angle of the gas flow velocity vector leaving thetop left and top right discharge plates 23 a and 23 b respectively, andthe bottom left and bottom right discharge plates 27 a and 27 brespectively, is between zero degrees and 90 degrees from horizontalbottom wall 4. After the aggressive glancing and conflicting gas flowpatterns 30 a and 30 b contact or strike the food product they areexhausted through top egress section 12 and cycle back through the ovenas described herein.

The gas flows within the oven, as well as other functions of cookingappliance are directed by controller 34, FIG. 2. Controller 34determines, among other things, the velocity of gas flow, which may beconstant or varied, or, may be constantly changed throughout the cookingcycle. It may be desired to cook the food product on one velocitythroughout the entire cooking cycle, or to vary the gas velocitydepending upon conditions such as a pre-determined cooking algorithm, orvary the velocity in response to various sensors that may be placedwithin the oven cavity, oven return air paths or various other positionswithin the oven. The location and placement of said sensors will bedetermined by the particular application of the oven. Additionally,other means may be utilized wherein data is transmitted back tocontroller 34, and thereafter controller 34 adjusts the cooking in anappropriate manner. For example sensors (temperature, humidity,velocity, vision and airborne chemical mixture level sensors) may beutilized to constantly monitor the cooking conditions and adjust the gasflow accordingly within a cooking cycle, and other sensors not describedherein may also be utilized. The speed cooking oven may utilize sensorsthat are not currently commercially utilized (such as laser,non-invasive temperature sensors and other sensors that are currentlytoo expensive to be commercially feasible), and the speed cooking ovenis not limited to those discussed herein, as many sensing devices areknown and utilized in the cooking art.

The gas flow performance may also be adjusted as a function of availablepower. In the event, for example, the heating system in an all electricspeed cooking oven is requiring or utilizing a large amount of power(larger than available power levels which may vary according to locationand local code and ordinance) it may be desirable for the controller toreduce electrical power to the convection heaters or other electricalcomponents accordingly in order to conserve available power. Indeed, incertain parts of the world where power is limited or capped, for exampleJapan and Italy, the oven of the present invention can be designed toadjust to these limiting conditions. In a speed cooking gas fired unit,some systems will be powered by electric current, but the electric powerrequirements will not be as high as required for an all electric ovenbecause the energy required for gas heating and cooking will be providedby the combustion of a hydrocarbon based fuel. In this event acontroller may not be required, indeed knobs or dials may be utilized.

Managing the gas flow pattern in a speed cooking oven is importantrelative to controlling the local convection heat transfer rate at thefood product. Many food products cooked in a typical rapid cook ovenrequire that the energy into the food (whether the energy be microwave,impingement gas, halogen light or other energy) be “tailored”(distributed) over the entire cooking cycle. This tailoring ormodulation of both the microwave and the convection energy systems is animportant feature in achieving a rapidly cooked food product with highfood quality. For example, a food product such as a pizza may require asmuch as 30 minutes to cook in a conventional oven, but can be cooked inas little as 3 minutes in a speed cooking oven. During this three minutecooking cycle, the controller may be programmed with an overall routineof cooking instructions that is broken down into sub-routines or events.As such, in a cooking profile, several different “sub-routines” may beutilized to attain the final rapidly cooked food product. The cook cyclemay, for example begin with 20 seconds of high velocity gas flow whereinthe gas flow is delivered at 100% velocity and the microwave output is10% of total microwave capacity. This cycle may then, for example, befollowed with 10 seconds of cooking time wherein 10% gas flow isutilized and no microwave power is used. This may then be followed by 1minute wherein 100% gas flow and 100% microwave power is used, followedby, for example, one minute wherein 50% microwave power is used and 50%gas flow is utilized. These speed cooking ovens therefore require asophisticated control mechanism that is expensive and can be a source ofreliability problems and variable speed blowers have therefore been usedin order to control, for example, vertical impingement air flow and aspreviously described, this approach is expensive because dynamicallybraking speed variable blower motor speed controllers are required,adding complexity and cost to the appliance. In addition, using air flowrates that vary from low flows to high flows requires “over-design” ofoven components such as convection heaters, grease control systems,blowers, blower motor controllers and nozzle plates because the partsmust work equally well together at low flow conditions as well as athigh flow conditions.

Although the present invention may utilize variable speed blower motorsand variable speed blower motor controllers, there is no requirement fortheir use and the speed cooking oven of the present invention avoidsthese problems, and the complexity of the variable speed blower motors,by maintaining a substantially constant gas glow rate through the ovencavity, gas transfer and gas delivery sections. FIG. 6 shows twoillustrative gas flow patterns wherein aggressive gas flow patterns 30 aand 30 b are shown and less aggressive gas flow patterns 31 a and 31 bare illustrated in FIG. 6 b. One means to achieve this gas flow patternmodification is by use of a gas pumping means, in this illustration, ablower motor, blower wheel combination, utilizing a controller or amulti speed switch that allows for the switching of the blower motorspeed in pre-determined fixed increments. Heating of the convection gasis provided by either electric resistance heating means 14 a and 14 b orby a direct fired (product of combustion mix with oven gas) means. Theheater is configured such that it can be operated at a lower heat fluxfor the convection heating and cooking mode, or at a higher rate forradiant heating and cooking. The radiant heating will also provideconvection heat for cooking. The purpose of the radiant feature is toprovide additional surface browning.

The speed cooking process produces a high grease generation rate becausethe amount of grease or liquids that are produced during a rapid cookoperation is approximately the same as conventional cooking, but thegrease load is produced in ⅕^(th) to 1/7^(th) and in some instances1/10^(th) the time of conventional cooking times. This results in highgrease loading (e.g. ounces/minute) of the gas flow stream which, if nottreated, may cause a number of problems including (a) smoke generation,as grease particles impact hot surfaces, (b) soiling of interior gastransfer and delivery surfaces, which may be hidden and difficult toclean, and (c) grease contamination of the food product itself from there-circulated air flow. Impingement style air flow amplifies this effectby throwing or entraining grease and other liquids that ultimatelycollect in the grease catch container around the food product. The gasflow of the present invention greatly reduces this effect by notallowing the gas flow to impinge on the liquid coated pan, cookingvessel or food surfaces. In order to control the grease and otherliquids produced by the speed cooking process, the first method employedis the particle removal of the grease. Grease in vapor form is much lessof an issue because there are no cool walls within the oven for vaporcondensation of the grease or liquid. Referring now to FIG. 2 and FIG.4, left grease extractor 13 a and right grease extractor 13 b arepositioned downstream of left thermal heating means 14 a and rightthermal means 14 b respectively. The gas flow passes over left and rightthermal means 14 a and 14 b before passing through left and right greaseextractors 13 a and 13 b. In order to control grease and other liquidparticles, grease extractors 13 a and 13 b are designed, FIG. 9 b, toprovide a convoluted gas flow path, 80 wherein the average flow velocitymaintained is in the approximately 2000 ft/minute to approximately 6000ft/min range. This method will extract a substantial amount of thegrease particles with mean diameters greater than approximately 3.0micrometers. Grease extractors 13 a and 13 b have a proximal end towardsthe front of oven cavity 2 and a distal end towards the back wall ofoven cavity 2 wherein the distal end is positioned slightly lower thanthe proximal end to allow grease to flow by means of gravity to the backwall of oven cavity 2 where it is collected within a grease collectionmeans 50, FIG. 9 a, or otherwise removed completely from the oven via atube, channel or other means that allows the liquid grease to collect ina collection device separate and apart from the speed cooking oven.Grease extractors 13 a and 13 b consist of a series of baffles ortroughs 81 that rapidly accelerates (change of direction) the flow 80 asthe gas flow bends around the flow diverters. Larger or heavier greaseparticles with the highest inertia cannot be sufficiently accelerated tofollow the flow as the flow passes through the diverters. As a result,the grease particles impact the diverter walls. The collection point isthe valley or trough, which both prevents re-entrainment of the greaseinto the air stream and also acts as a grease channel to remove greasefrom the oven cook cavity. This aerodynamic method of grease removalrelies on the pressure drop associated with the turning of the flowthrough the baffles. This design achieves approximately 90% removalefficiency of 3 micrometer or greater grease particles, while requiringless than approximately 1.5 inches of water column gas flow pressuredrop across the grease particle removal sections 13 a and 13 b. The flowarea restriction is designed to accelerate the gas flow prior to theflow diverters and to slow the gas flow after said flow exits thevalleys of the trough.

The most efficient utilization of the spent hot gas is by re-circulationof the gas flow through the oven cavity many times during a cookingcycle. During normal speed cooking it may be desirable for one foodproduct to be cooked after another different type of food product (fishfollowed by pastry) with successive cycles continuing. For exampleshrimp may be cooked first, followed by a baked product or pastry.Without appropriate filtration, the odors from the shrimp willcontaminate the baked product, producing an undesirable taste and odorin the pastry. There exists a need for further air clean-up (in additionto the grease extractors) to further scrub the gas flow of the particlesthat are not entrained by grease extractors 13 a and 13 b. In instanceswherein further filtration of the gas flow is desired, odor filters maybe placed within the oven cavity. FIG. 2 illustrates the use of odorfilters 40 a and 40 b for this purpose. Left side odor filter 40 a isattached within top left gas transfer section 17 a, downstream of leftgrease extractor 13 a and right odor filter 40 b is attached withinright gas transfer section 17 b downstream of right grease extractor 13b. Odor filters 40 a and 40 b are attached in a manner that allows fortheir easy removal for cleaning and replacement. Gas that flows into theleft and right gas transfer systems 15 a and 15 b first passes throughodor filters 40 a and 40 b. The gas flow is therefore further scrubbedafter passage through grease extractors 13 a and 13 b in order toeliminate odors that could interfere with the proper taste of the foodproduct currently being cooked. In some cases it may be beneficial toutilize a second set of odor filters, and these filters may be placedanywhere within the gas flow path downstream of blower wheels 16 a and16 b. Odor filers 40 a may be catalytic type elements or otherfiltration means including, but not limited to activated charcoal,zeolite or ultra violet wavelight light. It is beneficial that the odorfilters be comprised of a material, or materials, that effectivelyscrubs, or cleans the gas flow with a minimal amount of interferencewith the gas flow velocities. Additionally, it is beneficial that theodor filters be easily removed, easily cleaned and inexpensive for theoperator to replace.

The oven of the present invention may also utilize microwave energy toat least partially cook the food product. As seen in FIG. 2, left sidemicrowave launching waveguide 20 a is attached within oven cavity 2 toleft side wall 5 between top left gas transfer section 17 a and lowerleft gas transfer section 18 a. Right side microwave launching waveguide20 b is attached within oven cavity 2 to right side wall 6 between topright gas transfer section 17 b and lower right gas transfer section 18b. The microwave waveguides are designed to distribute microwave poweruniformly from the back to the front of oven cook cavity 2. As shown inFIG. 8, such a configuration promotes uniform illumination of microwaveenergy to the right side and the left side of the cook chamber becausethe microwave energy from the side walls is additive over the product.The vertical distance above cavity bottom wall 4 of waveguides 20 a and20 b is such that, under normal cooking conditions, approximately morethan ⅓% of the microwave energy is available below cooking rack 8 a,with the balance of microwave energy available above cooking rack 8 a.

Metal cooking devices such as cooking pans, cookie sheets and othermetal cookware is traditionally used in conventional cooking. Becausemicrowave energy cannot penetrate these metal devices, all of themicrowave energy must enter the top and side surfaces of the foodproduct. To overcome the issue that metal pans create, some ovensutilize a top launch microwave system. The theory has been to providemicrowave energy through the top surface of the food product, but thisapplication of microwave power applies excessive microwave energy to thetop of the product, causing over cooking, producing a tough, rubberyfood product. The overcooking problem is especially acute when cookingproteins, such as meat. In order to prevent this microwave overcookcondition, one method historically utilized was a reduction of themicrowave energy that is available for cooking the food product. Theresult of limiting the microwave energy to the food product is that themicrowave energy is more evenly distributed over the cook cavity, butthis reduction in applied microwave energy results in a slower cookprocess, defeating the desire for a speed cooking oven.

Other methods of distributing microwave energy launch microwave energyfrom below the food product. This is not optimum because microwaveenergy that is to enter the upper surface of the food product mustbounce around within the oven cavity in a random and inefficient mannerin order to enter the top side of the food. As shown in FIG. 11,microwave energy is broadcast from waveguide 20 a into oven cavity 2 viaa slotted antenna 70 wherein three or four narrow apertures (slots) 70a, 70 b, 70 c, 70 d are spaced along the waveguide. Variousconfigurations for microwave distribution have been utilized withvarying results. Food product 10 is placed within oven cavity 2 adistance of at least 2.4 inches (for optimal cooking uniformity) fromleft side wall 5 and right side wall 6. The 2.45 inch measurementcorresponds to one half a microwave wavelength or 2.4 inches (foroptimal cooking uniformity) (E field null) for a 2.45 GHz microwave tube(microwave) frequency. This spacing permits the E-field 51 a and 51 bFIG. 8, to expand and become more uniform prior to coupling with thefood product.

The right side microwave system is identical to the left side system andmicrowave energy is broadcast from right waveguide 20 b to oven cavity 2via a slotted antenna as previously described for the left side. Themicrowave energy field therefore propagates through the oven cavity inan evenly distributed pattern, coupling with the food product from alldirections, and providing an even electromagnetic energy distributionthroughout the oven cavity without the need for a mechanical stirrer topropagate the electromagnetic field.

Waveguides 20 a and 20 b are located on the left and right side walls ofthe oven, and therefore do not interfere with oven cavity spent gasexhaust.

The microwave waveguides are located on the side walls of the ovencavity, and are not affected by food spills, grease contamination,cleaning fluid contamination or other contamination that normally affecta bottom launch microwave system. The microwave system of the presentinvention will therefore be less likely to be penetrated by grease,spills, cleaning materials and other contaminants because the systemsare not located directly under the food product where hot contaminantswill drip.

As seen in FIG. 2, bottom wall 4 has a smooth, continuous bottom that iseasy to clean with no heating elements, air return ducts or microwavelaunchers within the oven cavity floor. In instances where air returnmeans, heating elements and microwave launchers protrude through theoven floor it is very difficult for an operator to clean and maintainthe oven in a sanitary condition. In a bottom launch microwave system,the waveguide launcher is generally located within the center portion ofthe oven cavity bottom wall. As grease, oils and other by-products ofthe cooking process are released during normal cooking, they drip andsplatter onto the microwave launcher. The launcher must be protected andis covered with a microwave transparent material such as quartz andsealed with adhesives or other sealants in an effort to preventcontaminants from entering the launcher, causing pre-mature breakdown ofthe magnetron. Additionally, some speed cook ovens have located upon thebottom wall a radiant element to assist with bottom side browning. Forcommercial applications an exposed lower radiant element may result insafety issues as grease builds up around the hot element.

The present invention utilizes a smooth oven cavity floor that does notallow for the contamination of the microwave system, the gasre-circulating system or the wave guide launcher by grease and other byproducts of the cooking process that drip or spill from the cookingcontainers. Gas discharge plates 23 a and 23 b, FIG. 2, are located inthe corners of the oven with the apertures 29 a, 29 b located above theoven floor. The microwave launching system is affixed between gastransfer sections 17 a and 17 b on the left side and 18 a and 18 b onthe right side. As such, the bottom of the oven cavity is left as acontinuous, unencumbered surface. Apertures 29 a and 29 b are positionedabove oven bottom wall 4 and cleaning of the oven floor is thereforeeasily achieved. Additionally, plates 27 a and 27 b can be manufacturedto be removable from lower gas transfer sections 18 a and 18 b forcleaning or replacement. Radiant elements 103 a and 103 b, are locatedwithin gas transfer sections 18 a, and 18 b and will therefore not becontaminated by food spills, grease and cooking by-products thatsplatter and drop from the cooking rack.

To summarize, the present invention provides for a speed cooking ovenutilizing hot gas flows, hot gas flows coupled with microwave energy inorder to achieve speed cooking of food products five to ten times fasterthan conventional cooking methods, and at quality, taste and appearancelevels that are equal to and exceed conventional cooking. The oven isoperable on standard commercial power supplies and is simple andeconomical to manufacture, use and maintain, and is directly scalable tolarger or smaller commercial and larger or smaller residentialembodiments. The speed cooking oven may operate as a speed cooking aironly oven, a microwave oven or a combination air and microwave speedcooking oven.

Although the present invention has been described in considerable detailwith reference to certain preferred versions thereof, other versions arepossible. For example, various sizes of commercial and residential speedcooking ovens may be made. In these cases larger or smaller componentparts may be utilized and fewer or more components may be employed. Inthe case where it is desirable to make a smaller speed cooking oven, onegas flow acceleration means may be utilized instead of two; onemicrowave system utilized instead of two; smaller or fewer thermaldevices, whether electric resistance or gas fired may be used. In caseswherein it is desirable for a larger speed cooking oven, multiple rackunits may be developed and additional gas flow systems and microwavesystems may be added to accomplish a larger cavity, multi rack speedcooking oven. Apertures may be made larger or smaller depending upon thegas flow requirements of a practiced version. The heating means may becombined into one heating element, or more than two heating elements maybe utilized.

Any element in a claim that does not explicitly state “means for”performing a specific function, or “step for” performing a specificfunction, is not to be interpreted as a “means” or “step” clause asspecified in 35 U.S.C. §112, ¶6. In particular, the use of “step of” inthe claims herein is not intended to invoke the provisions of 35 U.S.C.§112,

Other modifications and improvements thereon will become readilyapparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the spirit and scopeof the present invention is to be considered broadly and limited only bythe appended claims, and not by the foregoing specification.

1.-94. (canceled)
 95. A method of speed cooking a food product with gas,comprising: providing a housing defining a cavity comprising a cookingchamber having a top wall, a bottom wall, and opposing left and rightsides defined by left and right gas discharge plates positionedalongside opposite left and right side walls defining the cavity, saidleft and right discharge plates having gas discharge apertures directedin downwardly convergent directions; introducing gas into the cookingchamber through the gas discharge apertures in the left and right gasdischarge plates such that gas entering the cooking chamber through thegas discharge apertures is directed in downwardly convergent directionsfrom the left and right sides of the cooking chamber toward food productin the cooking chamber; and cooking food product in the cooking chamberby turbulently colliding the downwardly converging gas in closeproximity to an exposed surface of the food product.
 96. The methodaccording to claim 95, further comprising heating the gas and exhaustingthe heated gas through an egress opening in the top wall of the cookingchamber.
 97. The method according to claim 95, wherein the oven has nomeans for directing gas vertically into the cooking chamber.
 98. Themethod according to claim 95, wherein the step of cooking the foodproduct is achieved by simultaneously colliding the gas at multiplelocations about selected surfaces of the food product.
 99. The methodaccording to claim 95, further comprising operably associating a conduitmeans with the cooking chamber, and circulating the gas to and from thecooking chamber through the conduit means.
 100. The method according toclaim 95, further comprising providing a means for adjustably dampingthe amount of gas delivered through the gas discharge apertures of theleft and right gas discharge plates.
 101. The method according to claim95, wherein said left and right discharge plates are upper plates, saidmethod further comprising, providing lower left and right dischargeplates at left and right sides of the cooking chamber, respectively, atlocations below said upper left and right plates, respectively, saidlower left and right discharge plates having gas discharge aperturesdirected in upwardly convergent directions, introducing gas into thecooking chamber via the gas discharge apertures in the lower left andright gas discharge plates such that gas entering the cooking chamberthrough the gas discharge apertures in the lower left and right gasdischarge plates is directed in upwardly convergent directions from theleft and right sides of the cooking chamber toward food product in thecooking chamber; and cooking food product in the cooking chamber byturbulently colliding the downwardly converging gas in close proximityto an exposed surface of the food product.
 102. The method according toclaim 95, further comprising providing at least one blower motor, andoperating the blower motor to force gas through the gas apertures of theleft and right gas discharge plates.
 103. The method according to claim102, wherein the blower motor is a variable speed motor.
 104. The methodaccording to claim 103, wherein the gas is directed in said downwardlyconvergent directions at a velocity of between about two thousand feetper minute and about six thousand feet per minute.
 105. The methodaccording to claim 103, wherein the gas is directed in said downwardlyconvergent directions at a velocity of over about two thousand feet perminute.
 106. The method according to claim 103, wherein the gas isdirected in said downwardly convergent directions at a velocity of up toabout six thousand feet per minute.
 107. The method according to claim95, further comprising providing a control system for controlling therate of cooking of the food product.
 108. A system for controlling aflow of gas in an oven having a housing defining a cavity comprising acooking chamber defined by a top wall, a bottom wall, and opposing leftand right sides, comprising: left and right gas discharge platesdefining the left and right sides of the cooking chamber and positionedalongside opposite left and right side walls defining the cavity,respectively; gas discharge apertures in the left and right gasdischarge plates for directing gas into the cooking chamber through thegas discharge apertures in downwardly convergent directions; and acontrol system for controlling the flow of the gas within the oven suchthat gas introduced into the cooking chamber via the gas dischargeapertures cooks the food product by moving in said downwardly convergentdirections and turbulently colliding in close proximity to an exposedsurface of a food product disposed within the oven.
 109. The systemaccording to claim 108, wherein the oven has no means for directing gasvertically into the cooking chamber.
 110. The system according to claim108, further comprising an egress opening in the top wall of the cookingchamber for exhausting gas from the cooking chamber.
 111. A method ofspeed cooking a food product in an oven having a housing defining acavity comprising a cooking chamber having a top wall, a bottom wall,and opposing left and right sides, the method comprising: directingheated gas through gas discharge apertures in left and right gasdischarge plates at the left and right sides of the cooking chamber andpositioned alongside opposite left and right side walls defining thecavity, respectively, such that gas entering the cooking chamber movesin downwardly convergent directions and collides in close proximity toan exposed surface of the food product; directing microwave energy fromthe left and right sides of the cooking chamber toward the exposedsurface of the food product; and continuing one or both of the directingsteps until the food product is cooked.
 112. The method according toclaim 111, further comprising exhausting the heated gas through anegress opening in the top wall of the cooking chamber.
 113. The methodaccording to claim 111, wherein the left and right gas discharge platesare upper plates, said method further comprising directing heated gasthrough gas discharge apertures in left and right lower gas dischargeplates at the left and right sides defining the cooking chamber,respectively, below the upper left and right gas discharge plates,respectively, such that gas entering the cooking chamber from the gasdischarge apertures of the lower left and right gas discharge platesmoves in upwardly convergent directions and collides in close proximityto an exposed surface of the food product.
 114. The method according toclaim 111, wherein no gas is directed vertically into the cookingchamber.
 115. The method of claim 95, wherein the left gas dischargeplate is positioned at a top left corner and angled from the top wall,and wherein the right gas discharge plate is positioned at a top rightcorner and angled from the top wall.
 116. The system of claim 108,wherein the left gas discharge plate is positioned at a top left cornerand angled from the top wall, and wherein the right gas discharge plateis positioned at a top right corner and angled from the top wall.